Vera's Vintage Blocks

Happy Summer!  okay it hasn't officially begun but these past few days have been so beautiful.... Perfect temperatures, the garden is green and lush, and most of my outdoor set up has been completed.  Time to enjoy the yard and weekends!

A dear friend of mine, Vera, from our Modern guild knows my passion for everything vintage!  I am a big thrift store hunter...a collector of old milk-glass & Pyrex, and old crocheted granny square afghans (seriously). She came across a collection of old quilt blocks, given to her a long time ago, but had never done anything with them.... So she gifted me with them!

 No one knows who made them... I have challenged myself to pull out some of my favourite fabrics and re-imagine all of them in new ways!

There are 25 rather plain nine-patch blocks that I am mixing with Denyse Schmidt picnic fabrics, white Kona cotton and some aurafil thread. I plan to make some cute granny square blocks.

They are beautiful.  So perfectly pieced.... I plan to use them all. Perfect summer projects.

Vintage September

Ah, what a lovely month this September is turning out to be! It seems silly to dread its' arrival, and now I am enthralled.  Enthralled with autumn arriving and under very sunny skies!  If you aren't familiar with our usual weather here in the Fraser Valley  - it is a very rainy valley. Not these past few months!
Now this should be my last (for a little while) post about my vintage kitchenware finds.  I just love perusing our local thrift stores looking for discarded 'treasures',  Cuz I usually find lots of them!  Yesterday, on my lunch break, I really lucked out. I fell hard for this little cup, then discovered it was part a snack-set, seven in all.  Oh so lovely & collectible.

 

This casserole set by Fire King has a milk glass lid!  Oh my.
I also found more glass bakeware to add to my collection & more Visions cookware too(both not pictured); sometimes thrifting can be like having dollars to spend in a penny candy store. So much to choose from; I am learning to be selective. Sigh, but am still amazed at what I can find! 

Yup, I found another chicken to add to my chicken collection... I know but what can I say?

 

These vintage milk glass snack sets just captured my heart. Oh how I love milk glass.
Now this coming weekend I will be at a sewing/quilting retreat with a wonderful group of creative women. So next week, lots & lots of sewing project to be shared.

Have a great week all !

Vintage Friends & Finds

Last Saturday was a near perfect day. Met up with an old friend, someone I've known more than 40 years, to check out a few vintage sales in the back country of Langley. There are some very talented women in the Fraser Valley who put together great vintage items and beautifully refurbished furniture pieces for a vintage inspired yard sale. It is exciting to discover what they will make available to buy. These tag sales are very well received! I never fail to come home with great treasure.

 So the plan was to meet up in Langley at Porter's store for breakfast. We were delighted to discover the 'corner store' from my friend’s childhood (1970's) has been converted into a great cafe; so breakfast and vintage market shopping was the plan.

But the morning was a vintage adventure of its own. The five corners of Murrayville hold many sweet memories from when we were young. And it is a signpost – marking who we were, all we hoped for and where we are now. It was a middle-aged moment!

The floor hadn't changed, that was a 'trip' as we used to say when we were teens, to walk across a threshold from your past.

  The vintage yard sales did not disappoint either. First stop was Red Door Farm. Amazing, and must be experienced.

We followed with a visit to Nostalgic Nest- what a treat.  Found some beautiful kitchen wares, Pyrex and lovely furnishings.

Vintage Find projects & collectibles...

Okay... last post... for awhile...regarding thrift store/vintage market finds.... I intend to be busy sewing and completing painting projects over the next few days!

This box is full of finds from a recent thrift store hunt - lots of fun things! See that kitchy tray? It has a map of Lake Okanagan painted on it in really great colours. It is in mint condition and my hub is from the Okanagan. Perfect find.

My find for the week - this glass hen.  I seem to be falling into the trap of falling in 'love' with certain types of items. For instance I have developed a deep crush on salt & pepper shakers - old ones from the mid 20th century. As well, creamers & sugar bowl sets, and chickens / hens too.  It is fun to find something .

I am so sorry to not have taken a 'before' picture of this little wooden toolbox.  It was paint spattered, but solid. It had the name 'Jacob' written on the bottom in pencil.  Loved it; sanded it abit, painted it black, sanded it more and waxed it!  It is beautiful. I love a useful object.

It can hold anything - fits nicely on any table or bookshelf - here it is full of sewing notions. Again, how I wish I had a 'before' picture as it is a great transformation.

Again, oh how I wish I had taken a 'before' pic.  This little spice jar set was a great find: but the glass jars still had their labels, the little shelf was raw wood and not in great shape.  Scouring, sanding and some 'DewDrop' colored paint and a good waxing. And here is the 'after'.  Those green ceramic tops on the jars are sweet.

 

Again, my colored knitting needle collection is growing... another collection. But oh so fun. 
Love this brightly colored table topper - vintage & found at Red Door Farm in Langley.

The colors are bright and beautiful.

Last up is my growing collection of 'Pyro - rey' ware. These milk glass pieces are popping up all over and they are great to use in the kitchen.

See you in a week or so 

- in August !

Treasure Hunt Finds...continues...

So, I have made myself a promise which I have kept - whenever I bring new (or new to me) purchases home, I must eject items no longer needed from our house. So I start weeding out closets, the back of cupboards and storage areas. We have lived in this house for twenty-six years and this house is not cluttered.  You can actually find some empty shelves here and there. (Just not in my closet....just saying).

So, this is what I came up with on the weekend - I brought home such great finds on Friday and knew that I would find some things today too.

Note the space on the top shelf of my dish cabinet. This space will be dedicated to a pink Pyrex collection that I intend to build for Ms Freshface.

And yes, I did find a few nice finds today! I found a pink Pyrex daisy casserole with a lid (!) I couldn't believe it when I saw it sitting there on the shelf - with a yellow sticker (half off!). And there is always room in my basket for another pie plate; I tell myself, the cashier, anyone who will listen that I am buying them for my daughter, but that really isn't true.

And LOOK at this sweet roaster - can it be any cuter!?  and it had a yellow sticker (yup, half off).

My grandmother Beatrice had a set of these fiesta dishes - another yellow sticker find but I would have paid a lot for it - it  captured my heart.

These two casserole sets are now sitting on the top shelf!

Specks, our kitten is trying to get into one of my vintage baskets, and messing up my fabrics too.

HAVE A GREAT WEEK ALL !!

Treasure Hunt Finds...

Oh I think Friday (the 13th!) ended up being my very lucky day.  It was one of those days by mid-afternoon, I thought to myself, 'gosh I like my life'.  I mean I am pleased by the simplest things!  I really am.  Look what is tickling my fancy this weekend:

Our hydrangea shrubs are finally blooming! This means every nook and cranny of our home is filled up with flowers. I just love that about summer.

My quest for colored knitting needles continues -look I found these cute orange ones in a thrift shop in Mission BC.  And one blue needle - still looking for blue knitting needles..... The hunt continues.

Our kitten now weighs 3 pounds!  he is much loved and very at home at our house.

This was my score for the weekend!  I love needlework, not necessarily my own, but this was hanging up on the wall of our local MCC thrift shop and when I brought it to the till - half price! OMG !!

 I just love the vintage vibe!  the colors are lovely and it is soooo clean and fresh. I wish I knew whose work it is. But I have rescued it and it will be a cherished addition to my kitchen wall.

 

AND I found the little sister (1 1/2 quart size) of my snowflake pyrex casserole dish.  Now I need to hunt for lids....

Our kitten Specks hopes you are enjoying your summer!

Vintage Finds continue

This is what I found on my treasure hunt today,

I love so many things about vintage kitchenware: it is plentiful here in the valley, inexpensive, fun to collect but what I like best are the fruit motifs on most of the pieces. So adorable.

This is vintage glass from Indonesia - just love this pickle dish.

 These little milk-glass custard cups are sweet and were manufactured in France.

And I love this strawberry dish.

 This magazine rack is my favourite find of the day. LOVE LOVE it.

This beautiful old shelf stole my heart, it is perfect and three feet wide and only a few dollars.  LOVE.

Collecting vintage kitchenware is so much fun.

Find of the week

I love cherries - especially cherry print quilt fabrics!  I find cherry patterned anything to be so cheerful.  Maybe it is the color combos - the sweet reds, yellows and greens.. or how cherry prints remind me of old tablecloths from my godmother's summer cottage.  When I spied this lovely platter sitting on the shelf of a local thrift shop, at half price that day (!), it immediately went into my basket. And it is clear glass; it must be the cherries that I love after all.

Sweet.

And it really fits in with my other finds.